Black Five domination on the ECML with 44871 & 45231 'The Sherwood Forester' - 18.11.23

With the Christmas Steam Season approaching us once again, Saturday 18th November would see two steam tours heading from London Kings Cross to York, and to make it more interesting, both would be hauled by an LMS Black Five.

The first tour out of the capital was 44871 at the head of Railway Touring Companies "Christmas White Rose", operated by WCRC, travelling via Grantham to York and returning via Lincoln as far as Peterborough, where the Class 47 would take over while 44871 would stable at the NVR overnight. The second was the Steam Dreams Excursion to York, operated by LSL, and hauled by 45231 'The Sherwood Forester', travelling via Lincoln both ways. 45231 was standing in for 34046 Braunton, which had been deemed out of gauge at Kings Cross.

We begin at Finsbury Park, where 45231 powers the ECS from Southall up the grade with her stanier bark echoing around the surroundings, in rather dismal weather that thankfully wouldn't last for the day. At this point, 44871 was already in Kings Cross taking on her passengers. The pair were due to be side by side for around 6 minutes, however 45231's ECS was delayed and backed into Kings Cross just as 44871 departed. Moving onto St Neots we see both the fives passing through the station around 20 minutes apart.

With 45231 travelling via Lincoln and 44871 travelling via Grantham, our only option was to head to Doncaster. However we managed to overtake 44871 earlier than expected and got a bonus shot at Newark Northgate, and what a bonus too, with 44871 powering at speed now running around 20 minutes late. Moving further north into Doncaster, 44871 lost even more time at her water stop at Carlton Loop, and it was looking like both the fives would arrive into Doncaster at the same time. However, 44871 passed on the down fast around five minutes before 45231 was in view. We see 44871 taking it steady at first before opening up as the signal changed to green. Finally, 45231 heads into the station to pickup an LSL crew member, before departing for York, during which almost the entire station was focussing on the locomotive.

Incidentally, a third LMS loco would also be heading to York in the form of 46115 Scots Guardsman on an S&C Santa Special from Carlisle to York, but that was on a different route and wasn't possible to catch alongside the two fives. Still, two of the same class of steam loco near on back to back on the ECML was a sight many thought was a thing of the past, and it was certainly a top day capturing this rare spectacle.

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